Final Fantasy 14 is resuming its auto demolition for all housing plots on Data Centers that were exempt from the timer since February 2023. Housing in Final Fantasy 14 is a somewhat contentious topic in the community, as the number of available plots often falls below the needs of a server's population. The recent expansion of Wards across all Residential Districts has done much to alleviate the problem, but some players still remain subjected to the arbitrary mercy of the housing lottery in Final Fantasy 14.
Though the system was resumed in Endwalker with Patch 6.3, Square Enix paused automatic housing demolition for Final Fantasy 14 players from Europe, as a way of extending sympathies to Turkish and Syrian players affected by the February 2023 earthquake. The affected Data Centers of Light and Chaos enjoyed a grace period for the duration of the patch, but with the launch of The Dark Throne, Square Enix has prepared a detailed explanation of how the demolition timer will be re-implemented.
Starting from June 21 at 8:00 GMT, both European Data Centers in Final Fantasy 14 will once again become subject to automatic housing demolition. Players who have logged in at least once during the grace period will have their demolition timer reset and started anew from June 21. On the other hand, inactive Final Fantasy 14 players who haven't logged in since February 9 at 17:25 GMT will have their timers restarted from the amount of days they accumulated before the auto demolition was suspended.
While Island Sanctuaries have taken major steps in Final Fantasy 14 to provide instanced housing to players, private estate owners still enjoy plenty of luxuries denied to apartment owners and homeless players such as having a personal chocobo stable, access to the lucrative gardening system, and more. Even if Square Enix is now better equipped to scale up its servers to address Final Fantasy 14's ever-growing population, many players wonder if the Residential District approach to housing is flawed from the start.
Though it remains to be seen if Square Enix ever adds another Residential District to the game, it cannot be denied that Ishgard housing has greatly expanded the amount of plots available to players, and fans frequently have Sharlayan housing on their wishlist for the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 expansion. Ultimately, it may take years before Final Fantasy 14 comes up with a solution to its housing crisis that pleases everyone in its community, and until then, it will have to walk the path of lesser evil.
Final Fantasy 14 is currently available on PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: The Lodestone